ON THIS DAY

• 1745: The Jacobites, under the Young Pretender, occupied Edinburgh.

• 1787: Some 39 delegates (out of 42), under the chairmanship of GeorgeWashington, approved the Constitution ofthe United States of America.

• 1827: Wides incricketwere first scored in the Sussex v Kent game at Brighton.

• 1894: A Gaiety Girl opened at Day’s Theatre, NewYork, the first Britishmusical onBroadway.

• 1908: Lt Thomas Selfridge of the US Army Signal Corpswas killed in a plane crash in FortMyer, Virginia. Pilot OrvilleWrightwas also seriously injured. Selfridge was theworld’s first military aviation fatality.

• 1944: The British airborne invasion of Arnhem and Eindhoven in the Netherlands began as partofOperationMarket

Garden. The objectivewas to secure abridge over the Rhine as partofan Alliedinvasion of Germany, but after a battlewhich lasted untilSeptember 27, the attempt failed.

• 1944: Blackoutregulations were lifted to allowlights on buses, trains and at railway stations in Britain for the first time for five years.

• 1961: One of London’s biggest “ban the bomb” demos ended with 830arrested, including actress Vanessa Redgraveand playwright John Osborne.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:

An American cancer survivor achieved the“extraordinary” feat of becoming thefirst person to swim across the English Channel four times non-stop.

• BIRTHDAYS: DesLynam, broadcaster, 78; Damon Hill, former racing driver, 60; Ken Doherty, snooker player, 51.